Sunday street market, Chiang Mai walking street, Thailand

Experience a stroll through the Sunday street market (also known as the Walking Street Market) in Chiang Mai. This is the newest, largest and most popular market in Chiang Mai and takes up almost the entire length of Ratchadamnoen Road through the old walled city, with side shoots running off down alleyways and even main cross-streets. There are also a number of food markets developing off to the side of the main market, with all kinds of foods on offer. The roads are completely blocked during this market, so it is sometimes called “Walking Street” by the locals.

Location map of the Sunday street market in Chiang Mai

Along the street you’ll find cheap massages, a number of ad hoc restaurants, pavement artists, street entertainers, even the occasional rock music band in full stride. It’s a great place to spend an afternoon and an evening in Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai Sunday market really lights up after dark

Get a feel for what you can expect at the Sunday street market from the video below. This video shows the Sunday street market during the day time. It starts around 4 pm and goes well into the evening, closing up around 10 pm. A good place to start exploring is at the Tha Pae Gate which itself becomes a market on Sunday (and at some other times). As well as the usual array of fakes and copies, this market has a nice range of hand-made crafts (a great testimonial to the inventiveness of local Thai crafts people), snack foods and even some temporary restaurants set up in the grounds of various temples along the route.

Where to stay inside the old city in Chiang Mai

To really get the most out of the Saturday and Sunday street markets in Chiang Mai, you need to stay inside the walls of the Old City. Check out the deals on for TripAdvisor’s top hotels inside the city wall with links to enquire about bookings.

Tony and Tracy Gilbert are veteran Asian travellers with experience living and travelling in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and other Asian countries. Tony is a former journalist and editor who writes for many travel websites.

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